On the off-chance someone will know:

[trace_of_scarlet]

I was wondering: someone is a recovering painkiller addict. They've been clean for a while and they go to Narcotics Anonymous meetings. Would they also tend to stay away from other addictive substances, even those that they've never had a problem with? Specifically, would they not have an alcoholic drink in a pub with friends?

Comments

[dawning-star.livejournal.com]

Ideally, he/she wouldn't drink. A drug is a drug is a drug, no matter the form it comes in, and NA includes in their meeting readings a little blurb that says "Alcohol is a drug - period."

Some still look on alcohol as being separate or different which would easily lead to a relapse. Conversely, some alcoholics won't look on, say, taking painkillers as an addiction because their problems are just with alcohol. The disease is a tricky thing.

[bethan-b-bad.livejournal.com]

*nods* Thanks.

In the canon, he becomes addicted by having the painkillers forcibly injected several times by the person holding him hostage - rather than, say, because he has an addictive-type personality. Would this affect things, do you think?

[dawning-star.livejournal.com]

I'd say that once the threshold has been crossed into addiction, whether or not the personality is present is moot. At bare minimum it'd be like having a choice between swallowing cyanide or playing Russian Roulette. Either way, the odds are stacked against you.

Best way I ever heard it described was by an old-timer at an AA meeting: "If you take a cucumber, put it in vinegar, and leave it there long enough, it becomes a pickle. That pickle will never be a cucumber again."

Hope that helps. :)

[bethan-b-bad.livejournal.com]

It really does, so thanks a lot. <3

It's a character I'm planning to put into mixed_muses tonight, so knowing whether or not he'd have a drink was important. Ta!

[tablesaw]

On the other hand, that character (who is pretty easy to guess now) never really seemed like a person to attracted to alcohol, and is probably more likely to avoid it to avoid any possible risk of relapse.

[bethan-b-bad.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I mostly just didn't bother to name names because a sizeable percentage of my flist hasn't seen Criminal Minds, so it seemed pointless. Poor Reid. ._.

And yeeeah. I just know sod-all about addictions more serious than smoking, so I didn't know if drinking booze could relate to having a relapse if the original addiction wasn't booze. Before all that, though, I could see him maybe having one drink to be sociable (and probably getting ID'd multiple times, because he really does look about fourteen).

(Also, drunk!Reid - in the right company - would be funny. But anyway.)!